This is to share with others who might not have the chance to realize the strength of love shared between the human race and the cat species.
For those who share this LoVe of mine. Your comments are welcomed, correct me where I'm wrong and fill me in with things that I have yet to learn.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

It wasn't exactly a fiesta I guess.. But yeah you get the idea.. I don't believe that I actually pulled it off.. 9 cats in one go! but the drying was only partial for each one of them...Before bathing, I'd ruminate whether I should be completely covered with long pants and long sleeves to protect myself from being scratched, but then I'd go with minimal because I'll be soaking wet anyhow and I don't want to be dripping when I walk around. I also make sure that their nails.. errr.. their claws... are clipped, because even when they're clipped, I'd still be left with a few scratches here and there... Oh, I also did their ears, no kidding a total of 18 ears to clean...

1st up was BINTANG, as usual, she doesn't meow she's fine with water but she'd walk around wandering... However, she hates the dryer! and yes, she did leave me a mark to remind me how much she hates the dryer.. I partially got her dried and then left the rest for herself to do...

Next was BULAN.... he has a 6th sense when it comes to bathing, somehow when I prepare them for bathing, he would know and prepare himself to hide. I guess, it's the kettle of hot water, ear cleaning, claws clipping, collar off, a bunch of towel, and an additional hint if another cat goes first. When it came to his turn, he would start running away, hiding and avoiding, he would meow in protest as he is carried into the bathroom and would hold on tightly to whatever that he can reach to, that means the door, the towel and myself. But then during the bath he'd be fine, he'd stay quietly until he's done, sometimes he does wander around. Then I pick him up to drain, he'd start meowing and struggle to reach the towel. He's also fine with the dryer, he's able to tolerate the noise and would stay still as he is being dried, but then he gets to decide when he's done. Iguess when he's no longer cold, he'd say he's done, but still he was nearly fully dried when he decided to make the leap.

3rd one up, was YUMIEKO... Owh.. she holds on to you tightly around your neck as you take her in the bathroom. During the bath, she would be quiet as long as she gets to stand on her 2 hind legs while holding onto something with her 2 front legs (err.. hands), and most likely, she'd hold onto me, and hence explaining why I'd be soaked. Then she'd let out a small meow, as she's held up for the towel. and she's another hater of the dryer, but better than BINTANG, she'd let me dry her back and off she go, and she would giveme a hint that she was about to go by reaching out to scratch my face (she doesn't simply scratch, she aims for the face).

Next, was SUNSHINE. She was an easy one. Before she was spayed, it was horrible! She struggled to run, she moved about and she meowed that I thought people from the other building couldhear her! But now she's fine, she'd stay quietly and sometimes stand on her two hind legs. But, I DARE NOT force her to face the dryer. Luckily, she's got thin coat that's easily dried.

While the 1st four cats went in for their turns, MICHIKO would meow and meow and meow.. he doesn't seem to get the slightest idea that they were not up for fun in there. But he's a baby that just likes to be cuddled, he often meows just because he wants to be picked up and cuddled and played with. So I picked him up, and he stopped the meowing but the moment he realized that he was going for a bath he started meowing for help. I always leave him last, because of the difficulty. He doesn't like the water, and he meows, and he moves about, his tail wags to avoid the water and he'd definitly splash me with water to my face. On top of that, he's got a thick wool-like coat. It would also take forever to get him dried, but the good thing is, he can tolerate the dryer well. At least for as long as he still feels cold and haven't reached boredom. It is so irritating when he suddenlty leap off, just because he wanted to join another cat play or eat! but he'd be so fidgety when he sees another cat doing something deemed to be interesting by him. haih. anyhow, off he went after he was partially dried. I'd usually chase after him (in fact each ofthe others too) and dry 'em till they are like 90% dried. But I was so so so tired, and I had another 4 to go.

I thought the 4 kittens would be easy to deal with, but I underestimated them because of their size and paired with my tiredness, boy was I wrong!!All of them was freaked out by the water!

SUNNY kept running away from the water, but I got him settled. He was fairly ok with the dryer, but he wanted to run andplay with the others and I was too tired to keep chasing after him. So in goes the next cat, which was MJ.

MJ was too, freaked out by the water, he didn't really like the dryer but was still manageable, probably because of his small size, I could actually hold onto him longer. But he too leaped off to play, and ended up preoccupied with his tail.... It's like he just realized he has a tail, he was going round and round chasing after his own tail.

Next, I had BELLA and DONNA, the 2 small females... I was so so so tired, and figured these 2 would be easy so I took them both in at once. BUT that was a horrible assumption. They were both terrified by the water and was leaping everywhere. With water, BELLA was the worst of the 2, catching her was like catching a grasshopper! After I got that over with, next come the dryer, and it was not possible, this time DONNA was so so so agressive that I think she took this after SUNSHINE. These 2, whom I thought were timid and easy to handle left me with an arm full of scrathes... BELLA during the bathing, DONNA during the drying, what a perfect package!

Goodness, I spent over 4 hours on them and that wasn't even with complete drying. I have got to get one of those dryer for pets. Mean while, I'll get one of those small cage so that I can put the cat in while I aim the dryer at them.